31. Seaton Hall

Named for former president, John Seaton, this was Albion's first men's dormitory. It now houses men and women.

Prior to its construction in 1949, men lived in boarding houses, fraternity houses and club houses such as the Goodrich Club, which still owns its own house. Laying the cornerstone for Seaton Hall in 1948 marked the end of a century-long wait for men's housing at the College. The $850,000 necessary for building Seaton Hall were generously supplied by the Kresge Foundation. (Fennimore, pp.563-64)

A former Dean of Men, in his first year at Albion, Seaton lived in the Resident Coordinator's apartment with his wife. She owned a small, white French poodle with pink ribbons in its hair and would daily walk the dog in the courtyard behind Baldwin and between Seaton and Whitehouse Halls. The male students, wishing to be friendly but not knowing the dog's name, would open their windows and call out to the dog, "Hi, Fifi! How's Fifi today?" After a few days of this, the Dean called a meeting of all the residents of the dorms. Crowded into a lounge, the young men were scolded, "If I hear any of you," said the Dean, "yelling at my wife again, you will be in big trouble." The young men were baffled, as none of them had ever yelled at the Dean's wife.

It turned out that the Dean's wife was named "Fifi", and the dog was "Margaret".

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